Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to tonight's debate on the merits of the Gateway scheme. I would like to clarify some of the misconceptions that have deliberately been introduced to the discussion on this matter by people who are more interested in political opportunism than in genuine or real concern for the well-being of unemployed people. I welcome the measures that have been introduced by the Department of Social Protection since this Government came into office. The Department is moving away from the era when its role was confined to merely issuing cheques to the unemployed. We often hear about the dignity of people. I think there is nothing more degrading than issuing someone a cheque week in, week out to keep them at home, rather than making a real and meaningful effort to help them get back into the labour force. I commend the Minister and the Government on the steps they have taken to make changes in the Department. While it is a slow process, it is a very productive one. Many people in my constituency are extremely grateful for the opportunities that are now being offered to them by the Department of Social Protection.

The Gateway scheme gives people an opportunity to take up temporary part-time employment for 22 months. They get €11 an hour for working 19.5 hours a week. Participants in the scheme are entitled to take up other part-time work, if they are willing and able to do so, without having any penalty applied to what they are paid. The minimum payment anyone can receive is €208 a week, but this can increase to €400 a week depending on the person's circumstances. The 19.5 hours of work in a structured environment that is involved in this scheme can be undertaken in any of a wide variety of placements in the local authority sector. The compulsion element of this scheme has been much maligned in this House and other forums. The reality is that people will not be made to do something they do not want to do. The councils and the local authorities will be at pains to help individuals to match their skill bases with the wide and varied array of jobs that are undertaken by local authorities day in, day out. Anyone who has a genuine reason for not being able to take up a placement will have no difficulty whatsoever. The reality is that there is an element of people who are double-jobbing while drawing benefits or not making any effort to find work. That has to be targeted. I welcome that aspect of this scheme.

A degree of hypocrisy is evident in Sinn Féin's opposition to this scheme. The youth employment scheme in the North of Ireland, which is very similar to this scheme, offers people £15.38 a week in addition to their benefits. Their hypocrisy in coming down to the South to oppose the very same scheme brings partitionism to a new low.

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